Ivory Coast holds first trial over post-election violence

ABIDJAN Oct 2 (Reuters) - The trial of a top military ally
of Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo, the first
involving an accused instigator of last year's post-election
violence, opened in the commercial capital Abidjan on Tuesday.

General Bruno Dogbo Ble headed the elite Republican Guard
during the brief conflict, which killed more than 3,000 people
and erupted after Gbagbo refused to accept his defeat to rival
Alassane Ouattara in an election in late 2010.

A staunch Gbagbo loyalist, he and four co-defendants are
charged with kidnapping, illegal detention, and murder linked to
the abduction and killing of Colonel-Major Adama Dosso in March
2011, at the height of the violence.

Tuesday's hearing was adjourned soon after it opened when
defence attorneys claimed the military prosecutor violated
procedure when taking over the case from a civilian
investigating magistrate.

"We're not saying they shouldn't be prosecuted. But we're
saying that the procedure was poorly carried out...It was
totally illegal," said Mathurin Dirabou, a member of the defence
team.

The court is expected to rule on the defence's request that
some parts of the prosecution's case be reinvestigated when the
trial resumes on Wednesday.

Dogbo Ble was separately charged on Monday with the 2002
murder of Robert Guei, who ruled the country at the head of a
military junta from December 1999 to October 2000.

Gbagbo was captured by fighters backing Ouattara during the
battle for Abidjan and is now awaiting trial before the
International Criminal Court on crimes against humanity charges
for his alleged role in the violence.

While more than 100 of Gbagbo's supporters were arrested in
the wake of last year's fighting, human rights groups accuse
Ouattara, now president, of failing to prosecute his own
supporters responsible for grave crimes.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Joe Bavier;
Editing by Michael Roddy)